Purchasing domain names

We can secure any UK domain for you, generally within minutes, as long as it's available and is not against the rules and regulations. (You cannot for example purchase a .ltd.uk domain if you are not the Limited Company to which the name refers.)

We can also supply international domains, i.e. .net, .com etc., This may take up to a working day or two, but is generally less than an hour if during working hours. Once booked, your website can be viewed all but immediately, due to the rapid DNS propagation now in place, whereas a few years ago, it might have taken 2 days or more.

Why us?

Many domain sellers sell these very cheaply. However, there's generally a sting in the tail. The servers you are provided with may not have all the functionality you require, i.e. mySQL, CGI support etc. These will be 'options' you may need to pay extra for. Our servers are ready for you to use with all the functionality you might need.Or, bandwidth may be restricted. Once you go over your set level, your site will become invisible. We set a very reasonable bandwidth limit, without charging extra. Or, you may wish to relocate to a new server. In this case you're often asked to pay an 'admin fee' to release your domain. We demand no forfeit or 'admin fee' if you choose to move on. If you're not satisfied with our service, you're welcome to go elsewhere any time. And that brings us to Customer Support. Do you want to talk to a real person when a problem occurs? Well, we're at the end of the phone line during normal working hours and you're more than welcome to call for help, without hanging on for ages and pressing several options before you get through.

Which domain should you buy?

Domain names are very important in regard to search engine results and we can advise how best to promote your business online by the effective use of a specific domain name. For example, www.government-grants.co.uk is highly placed for a search on the term 'government grants', though the domain is not the only reason this is so of course; if that is all there was to it, search engine optimisation would be simple and perhaps www.governmentgrants.co.uk would be as highly ranked.

We would normally advise the purchase of two or more domains, one specific to your business and one or more generic names covering your services or product. For example, www.vassoullamichael.com is the official domain for an online shop we manage on behalf of a customer, but if you are searching for 'tummy tuck jeans' - one of their main products - then www.tummytuckjeans.co.uk is likely to be found on the first page of Google and other search engines. If Kelloggs was not such a well known household name, we'd advise them to purchase cornflakes.co.uk to promote their products. However, as a household name, they have little need to do this; anyone searching for cornflakes is likely to search for Kelloggs first. With your business of course, as with Vassoulla Michael, the opposite may be true - the product or service you provide is more important than the business name.

A friendly, hopefully timely, warning:Please do not assume that a name is available for your use simply because no website is displayed when you type in the address. That occurrence could be for many reasons. There are specific methods for checking domain name availability. In addition, don't leave it to the last minute, secure your chosen domain as soon as possible. And, please don't wait until you've had all your corporate printing done until you purchase it - it could have gone in the meantime. This has actually happened to more than one client of ours, believe it or not.

Let us advise you about securing a domain name that might be best suited to you.